As flames ripped through the cramped basement apartment, beneath the crackle of the fire and sounds of chaos, firefighter Daniel Sullivan somehow heard the faint sound of a woman breathing.

He followed the noise to find 27-year-old Terri Knight, mother of two, on the floor struggling for life.

The blaze at 100 Robertson St. had already claimed the lives of 1-year-old Ali and two-month-old Hussein, as well Knight’s husband, Oudah Frawi.

Only one life to be saved – but better than none.

Knight is still in serious condition at Massachusetts General Hospital. A spokesperson for the hospital said they could release no further information. Arienti said the last he heard Knight was still in a coma, after skin grafts were reportedly applied to her hands and back Friday.

In the week since the March 25 blaze, the woman’s struggle to live has provided a glimmer of hope for Quincy firefighters who had a first-hand view of the larger tragedy.

Sullivan and firefighters Tom Bowes and Ken Lippens, who were on Ladder 5 and responded to the second alarm, were able to perform their search because of all the men around them and those who went in before them, union president Ernie Arienti said. He said they all should be praised.

“They did a great job ... they did everything they could do,” he said this week, as the rescue was recounted in vivid detail at a city council meeting.

A critical-incident stress team from Boston came to Quincy the night after the fire, talking firefighters through the incident and helping them reconcile the inevitable mixed feelings over a tragedy-laced rescue, Acting Fire Chief Joseph Barron said. A Boston Fire Department engine and ladder covered the city while firefighters gathered.

“I know that these firefighters when they go home to their families, their children get an extra hug,” he said.